Apartment rentals New York with Chelsea Rentals

So, you’re back from vacation, and you want to know what news you missed out on during the summer months. Before we look ahead to the upcoming fall season, let’s take one look back on some of the biggest news to hit the New York City luxury rental market in the summer of 2013.

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The climate in New York City this year has been erratic to say the least. From hurricane-turned-tropical-storm Irene to the existentially questionable warm autumn, the question that has been on every New Yorker’s mind is, “So, what's winter going to be like?” A careful look at the November 2011 rental market report would suggest that the only thing warmer than the weather we had are Manhattan luxury rentals. Contrary to the slump that has occurred in the winters past, the Manhattan winter rental market is looking particularly strong, if not stronger than ever this year.

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If you follow Manhattan real estate, you are familiar with The High Line. And if you don't follow Manhattan real estate, and are in town for a convention or to see the sights or check out Anything Goes on Broadway or whatever... well, welcome to the Luxury Rentals Manhattan blog, and we'll presume you're also familiar with The High Line. After just a few short years on the West Side, the winding, lushly landscaped park that runs on the former freight train tracks above 10th Avenue has become both one of Manhattan's must-visit venues and one of the greatest success stories in Manhattan real estate. While Chelsea rental listings were, truth be told, doing pretty all right before the High Line went from random-old-elevated-train-tracks to hugely popular public park, the arrival of the park gave a huge boost to apartment listings near the High Line, and helped occasion the development of such blockbuster, high-end Chelsea rental listings such as The Ohm and The Tate. And with the opening of the High Line's second stage -- which will run from 20th Street all the way up to 30th Street -- today, the High Line looks likely to work its real estate magic again, this time for North Chelsea and the emerging and highly promising Hudson Yards neighborhood bearing the goofy-ish nickname The Linc.

We'd start this post with a "stop us if you've heard this one before," but for two reasons -- the first being that you have certainly heard this news before, and the second being that you've heard it often enough that we've probably already rolled out the "stop us if you've heard this one before." And because we don't want to stop, and because you've certainly heard this news before, we'll just go ahead and say it -- January was another month of (incrementally) increased rents and (notably) tightened vacancies in a NYC rental marketplace that has been defined by those trendlines for months now. This is the thing with trends, of course -- they tend to be linear, and they tend to be difficult to blog about without repeating oneself. The problem, here, being that -- when it comes to Manhattan rental listings over hte past few months -- the trend has proven to be especially persistent. How much so?

By the admittedly pricey (some would even argue too-damn-high) standards for Manhattan rental listings, Murray Hill rental listings are among the best value per square foot in NYC real estate. Which, come to think of it, probably has something to do with why they're among the most popular rental listings on Luxury Rentals Manhattan. But while there's plenty to recommend about Murray Hill, it's also a neighborhood with some image issues. Yes, it's home to a host of appealing luxury rental buildings, from the venerable Windsor Court to new construction blockbusters like the Costas Kondylis-designed Anthem. But Murray Hill's reputation as a party-happy 'hood favored by younger twentysomethings has led it to be labeled something of an urban suburb. Which is fair only insofar as any suburb anywhere can boast the knockout Indian food on offer in Curry Hill, or a bar scene half as lively as that spanning Third Avenue in Murray Hill. A new essay in the New York Times on the post-grad scene in Murray Hill won't help that reputation much, which is no doubt fine with the twentysomethings (and thirty-, forty- and so-on-somethings) who call the neighborhood home. But is it fair?

We've written before about both our crush on Chelsea's High Line and the hugely salutary effect the beloved, beautiful Chelsea park has had on the apartments for rent near The High Line. For condominiums for sale near the High Line, that proximity has led to a spike in both value and demand. For the select few Chelsea rental listings lucky enough to be High Line adjacent, the effect has been the same. The good news, though, both for those looking for rental apartments in Chelsea and those of us who simply enjoy walking on Manhattan's loveliest new park, is that The High Line keeps growing. Which means that the number of apartment listings near The High Line keeps growing as well. The sound you are hearing is landlords, developers and Chelsea renters high-fiving one another. With news -- and pictures -- of the ongoing High Line expansion reaching the New York Times yesterday, you may have to fight the urge to high-five yourself. It's not easy for us, either.

It's a pretty common refrain here at the Luxury Rentals Manhattan blog that the return of the Manhattan rental market to something like its old gangbusters status is a good thing. That's because, in a macro sense, it is. But it's also because we're working on talking ourselves into it. The renter's market of the great Manhattan rental market slump was tough on landlords and developers, but it was great news for those browsing NYC rental apartments, who suddenly found themselves faced with a wealth of no-fee rental listings and landlords seemingly eager to give away months of free rent and other other concessions. Now that the Manhattan rental market is healthier, the renter's market is generally a thing of the past -- a fondly remembered silver lining surrounding an ever-shrinking cloud, if you're a metaphor type, and a casualty of economic trends if you're more literally inclined. But, as we try to remind readers (and ourselves), there are still great deals to be found on Manhattan rental apartments. There are still plenty of no-fee rental listings out there, for instance, and there are also plenty of Manhattan luxury rentals offering concessions on leases. The surprising part, though, is the identity of those concession-granting Manhattan luxury rentals. From The Ohm -- a new construction luxury rental in Chelsea pictured near these words -- to a host of other new construction rental listings in various Manhattan neighborhoods, some of Manhattan's most concession-friendly rental listings happen to be at some of Manhattan's hottest new construction apartment buildings. No, really. More after the jump.

Manhattan is a lot of things, but it isn't a terribly big island, space-wise. Which is nice if you're walking, but presents a problem for the NYC real estate developers whose job it is to ensure an ever-growing number of Manhattan rental apartment listings. But just because Manhattan is full of millions of people -- and already home to many thousands of apartment rental listings -- doesn't mean that it's impossible to carve a new neighborhood from one of the last swaths of unused space in Manhattan. Meet "The Linc," a hopefully named semi-neighborhood rising in the hazy post-industrial area around the Lincoln Tunnel on Manhattan's west side. A recent rezoning -- in concert with that unslakeable thirst for new residential space -- has opened up The Linc (we can go without the quotes, right?) to a flurry of new construction residential development. In the Daily News, Jason Sheftell writes about what NYC dwellers can expect to see in The Linc over the next few years. Spoiler alert: the answer is new construction rental apartments, and lots of them, from such blue-chip developers as Glenwood and Related Companies.